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Abode receives majority stake investment
By Spencer Ives
PALO ALTO, Calif.—Nice S.p.A.,
a global home and building auto-
mation company, on April 13
acquired 75 percent of abode sys-
tems, a provider of DIY security
and home automation systems
based here, for $18.75 million.
The remaining stock is held by
abode's founders.
"We actually had a lot of inter-
est from several larger [compa-
nies based] outside the U.S. …
but we felt like Nice was the best
fit for us. We really liked their
team and their focus on design
and user experience was one of
the things that drew us to their
founder, Lauro Buoro," Chris
Carney, co-founder of abode
systems, told Security Systems
News. Nice and abode first met
in 2017, Carney said.
Abode's security system is self-
installed with a self-monitoring
option as well as a professional
monitoring option supported by
UCC's monitoring center. Abode
users can also pick on-demand
professional monitoring options.
The company has more than
15,000 users now, most of which
are in the U.S., according to Car-
ney, but abode has customers in
27 different countries.
"I think that we have the
potential to grow into a very
competitive company for the
foreseeable future based on this,"
Carney said. "The main thing for
us was getting additional invest-
ment and resources to continue
to innovate the product, add to
what we've already built, and
then we have some opportuni-
ties for geographic expansion."
Following the investment,
abode plans to increase its
employee count, particularly in
marketing, customer support,
and development, Carney said.
Abode has 33 employees now
and could add between 20 and
25 employees in the next six to
12 months.
"The innovation will move—
I think—at a quicker pace and
we'll be able
to build and
scale to sup-
port a grow-
ing customer
base alongside
of that," said
Carney.
The compa-
ny is currently
working on its new iota system,
a new, smaller form factor that
will be offered alongside abode's
other product.
There are potential synergies
with what Nice does, accord-
ing to Carney, such as abode's
systems integrating with Nice's
products.
In a prepared statement,
Lauro Buoro, founder and chair-
man of Nice S.p.A., said, "It is
a strategic operation for the
Group which will allow us to
expand on our product range to
include the Home Security sec-
tor for installers and end users,
thereby strengthening Nice's
leadership position in USA and
North America, a market that is
enjoying growing demand for
connected home and building
automation and home security
solutions."
Buoro continued, "This part-
nership represents important
leverage in the direct dialogue
of Nice with its end user yet
safeguarding the business to
business distribution channels
and services offered to profes-
sionals; it also offers up innova-
tive opportunities of integration
between various platforms and
extraordinary, highly profit-
able cross-selling options with
potential partners in the insur-
ance sector, as well as the range
of additional subscription ser-
vices. [Twenty-five] years after
Nice was founded, this is another
step forward in the international
growth process, in the portfolio
of products and services offered
by our group, characterized by a
strong focus on digitalization, to
become the point of reference in
the supply of cutting-edge solu-
tions on a global scale, in the
home security and smart home
industry."
SSN
Chris Carney
www.securitysystemsnews.com June 2018 S e C u RITY SYST e MS ne WS
Residential s ystems 26